The Debt that All Men Pay
by vampirerace
Summary: The battle is over, for now. The newborns defeated, Victoria is dead at last. But at what cost? Please R
1. Gone

Title: The Debt that All Men Pay  
Rating:  
Genre: Sorrow, loss, romance  
Pairings: Edward/Bella  
Summary: The battle is over, for now. The newborns are defeated, Victoria dead at last. But at what cost?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

_The Debt that All Men Pay – Chapter 1_

Sorrow, pain, sheer and pure loss. Heavy and overwhelming, coating the world in its wrath. He was gone. Jake was gone forever, lost in the depths of death, irretrievable. Never again would his warmth surround me, his smile breaking the gloom in the air. I was still waiting, waiting for him to return to me, to laugh and tell me it was all okay.

But he didn't come, it wasn't okay.

And it was all my fault.

Edward kept telling me it wasn't my fault, that there was nothing anybody could have done, holding me tight to his chest as I wept, my tears staining the grey front of his sweatshirt, but he took no notice. I knew that I shouldn't, couldn't do this to him. The tears I cried for Jacob hurt him, it hurt him to see me in such pain, surrounded by such loss. But I couldn't help it. The stitches holding the remnants of my heart back together seemed to burst, sending shattered shards to cut through the air, the hole in my chest gaping as it left me to gasp for breath through agonised wails.

I knew it was my fault. It was _me_ the newborns had come searching for, hunting for._ Me_ that the pack had fought to defend. That Jake had fought for. And now he was gone.

It was so hard to imagine that he, Jacob, my own personal sun, could die. As a wolf he seemed so powerful, indestructible and unbreakable, even if he was a goof. As a human he was huge, strong and warm, and had put me back together when I fell apart. I had almost shuddered when Edward had wrapped his cold, stone arms around me as I thought of him. Jake had felt so alive, so warm. So different from Edward, and I longed for that warmth.

For hours it went on like this, Edward growing more and more concerned for me, his eyes filled with sorrow and longing, longing to take my pain away. I wished he could, but I knew I deserved this. I had, even if inadvertently, played with Jake's heart, giving him hope for something that could never be. I deserved the pain that racked me, but I wished he could take it away, give me relief from my sorrow and guilt.

It went on for hours before exhaustion overwhelmed me and I fell into a restless, nightmare plagued sleep. And still I wept.

XXXXXX

Dawn broke without ceremony, sunlight rare for Forks washing over my face, warming me as I woke, Longing ached in my heart at the feeling, as if the world was taunting me. My eyes opened and I found myself staring into the expression of he who I loved, dark onyx and shadowed, filled with anxiety. Wondering, no doubt, when the tears would begin again. I smiled briefly for his sake, but it didn't reach my eyes, or my heart. Within a simple moment his arms surrounded me again, and I returned his embrace with silence.

"It's time" he spoke softly, his pain hidden behind the velvet of his voice. I nodded. I knew it was today. But it seemed to have come far, far to soon.

XXXXXX

Near the coffin of simple oak the preacher stood, droning on about life's turns and twists, but I barely heard him. I tried not to picture the still body of Jake within the wooden confines, but still the image invaded. He had been so lively in life that lying there, so still and motionless, it was impossible to think of his as anything but dead. But that still hurt too much.

This was so wrong. He was never supposed to die, never supposed to leave me. I wanted him by my side, a friend with a hand to lend and a shoulder to cry on. This was so wrong, so unfair.

Near the coffin stood the rest of the pack, silent and still in their grief. Sam stood serene, pain clear in his expression as his gazed with closed eyes at the pale wood. Paul glared and bristled in my direction, venom evident in his stare. Next to me stood Edward, allowed onto the reservation for the funeral, a low growl in his throat, directed back at Paul before returning attention to the priest. And then at last it was over. The coffin went into the ground, taking my sun along with it.

And my mind finally seemed to acknowledge that never again would I hear that laugh, see the smile I loved so much. Never again.

**Authors Note:** Sooooo what do you think? My very first fan fiction. Not sure how long this is going to be yet, but the chapters will likely be longer. Please read, review and let my know what you think!


	2. Leaving

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

_The Debt that All Men Pay – Chapter 2_

Shadowed darkness engulfed me that night as I slept, my subconscious trapped in the black fogs of my nightmares. I could see Jake in the distance, but with each step I took towards him through the dry mist he seemed to fade farther and farther away, a sad smile creasing his russet face, the face I missed so much, as he waved sadly, slowly before dissipating into the distance.

I woke as he disappeared into the dark, the sheets all around me coated with cold sweat. Tears still stained streaks along my cheeks, even as I slept I had wept. No more tears fell now, my eyes red and dry.

Reaching out blindly through the dark I searched for the comforting cold hand I knew should await me. For a moment I panicked as I felt nothing but air, as though the knife in my heart had been jarred and ripped upon. My breath came in ragged gasps until I remembered the past night, Edward being practically dragged by his family after the funeral. His eyes were dark onyx, shadowed with deep purple bruises. He'd be gone until at least morning.

Minutes passed with slow agony as I lay still, my thoughts a whirling mess within the confines of my mind. I didn't know if I could take much more of this. Everything that showed up before my eyes seemed to remind me of the loss that lodged an arrow in my fickle heart, mocking me, taunting me for my cruel ways.

I had to get out of here. I had to go.

Without giving myself time to reconsider the plot forming in my mind I rose, as quickly as I could manage in my weakened state without collapsing onto the cold floor beneath me. I didn't bother with changing from the light cotton pyjamas hanging off me loosely as I rushed from the room, plucking my truck keys from the bedside table.

Down the stairs I went, silent save the faint creaks of protest as my weight touched down on each stair. The doors lock clicked open silently, not so much as a groan as I swung it shut behind me without really realizing what I was doing. I grimaced at the roar my ancient truck made as the engine caught. Here we go.

XXXXXX

The needle on the speedometer climbed higher and higher, the iron monster of a vehicle screaming in uninhibited protest as I reached the dreaded speed limit on the ancient truck. Rain beat down hard upon the cracked glass of the windshield faster than the wipers could sweep it back, distorting all vision I had on the dark, moonless night. Heavy clouds covered the stars with relentless dark. The forest passed 

in a blur on either side of the road, the deep ditches a wide expanse on each edge of gravelled, cracked cement.

And still my eyes were dry, red and puffed in my pale face. Limps waves of brown hair framed my heart shaped face, shoulders hunched forward over the steering wheel. Dry sobs racked my body, each muscle shaking and convulsing. This didn't feel right. When I left, I thought I could get away from the memories plaguing Forks, but they only followed me as I drove farther and farther away from the town that had both brought me together with the one who made my heart complete, as well as been the location of the worst kind of utter pain I had even experienced. A pain ripping my heart in two, leaving only the gaping cavity in my chest. It had closed and healed, slowly, steadily, but surely. But now, the one who had stitched his magic into my life was gone, and with him took the healing that had put me back together. Even though I had chosen Edward, and did not doubt my choice in any way, at any time, I had fallen apart all over again when it was clear that never again would my best friend, my pillar of strength, would ever stand by my side again, never pick me up with I fell down.

And it hurt.

I could feel the hot tears pricking their way back into my eyes, and I pinched my lids together in a vain, last attempt to hold them back. I had promised myself the last tears had been shed, that no more would fall in memory to the one that was already gone and wouldnt ever return.

For that one moment that darkness was complete, I could almost feel the mud sliding beneath the tires as they slid and spun wildly beneath the truck. My eyes opened and time seemed to move in slow motion. The world passed in a blur through the windshield, darkness and rain distorting it all. For a moment it seemed peaceful before the twisting metal closed in around me, heat and noise rushing in on me all at once. One moment I was sitting in the vehicle, flying through the air, the next the glass shattered all around me and the truck was left behind as I continued my flight.

The ground, soft and mucked with rain rushed to meet me as I slammed into the earth, darkness flooded my vision as the world faded from all view.

**Authors Note:** not that long of a chapter, but it explained what I wanted it to say. And no, she's not dead. Please review!


	3. Visitors Rewritten

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

_The Debt that All Men Pay – Chapter 3_

**BPOV**

In the drifting emptiness of unconsciousness, I found my relief. Memories swarmed me from times close together and far apart, mingling and merging into the one before and the one behind, but all were light hearted, the happiest times since my arrival in Forks, that arrival I had once dreaded. Visions of late nights spent with Edward; Jake and I racing our motorcycles down the back roads of the La Push reservation; just sitting in the makeshift garage, me in the front seat of the rabbit, Jake tinkering with something mechanical, just enjoying the moment, talking about whatever came to mind. Scenes pulled from the deep of my mind where they had been banished to, having proven to painful to remember.

But now, they brought the release I had been seeking as I had flown down the back road in my four wheeled wrecking machine. I felt the pain of the loss slip away into simple nothing, replaced by the pure joy of days past, days I would give anything to relive, to hear that voice, see that smile just one more time. But none of that mattered now. I was alone with my memories, and in that I was content.

**EPOV**

The world passed in a massive blur on either side, I was simply a chalky streak through the dark, blinded with fear and pain, and if my heart had been beating it would have stopped and fallen to the rapidly passing earth below me, shattering in to fragments, stabbing up at the world, shards of a broken love story, torn apart by the cruel hands of fate, the greatest meddler the living were forced to contend with for their happy ending.

Alice had tried so hard to hide it from me as we hunted in the dark of the night, unrelated thoughts bumbling their way through her mind. But even with her years upon years of practice she could not keep the sight of mangled metal and glass from her thoughts. The mangled metal of_ her_ truck. Then simply black nothing, all sight lost as _she_ lost track of her senses, slowly making her way into the oblivion.

I couldn't let her reach it. I couldn't lose her. I couldn't lose Bella.

And so now I ran, back to the town of Forks, sight unneeded as I allowed instinct and senses to guide me safely through the trees. If the muscles in my legs could have burned they would have, they would have burned with the intensity of white fire searing at brittle stalks of dying life. But they did not burn, and I felt nothing but an overwhelming need to have her by my side, to breathe in her intoxicating presence.

And so I ran.

**Unknown POV**

Moving with subtle grace that now went unnoticed after so many years we glided over the earth, soft with fallen water, the moister suspended in the air a fine mist over us. The aroma of moist soil and rain did little to dilute the scents that clung to this area of land.

The lingering scents of animals that had crossed these paths, traces of exhaust and gasoline from passed vehicles still clinging to the particles of air and earth. All intermingling, all crisscrossing into a complex weave of patterns that would have driven anyone new to these senses out of mind and sense, but with age came experience and we were able to pick through the jumbled aromas without much difficulty.

One more intriguing than the others, singled out simply because it was what we had been searching for in the first place, although there had been nothing to hint to us that they would have found it so far from the township, much less from the coven that resided just beyond its borders. And yet there it was, overlaying the other fresh scents of burning rubber and steaming metal simply out of potency, fresh blood spilling freely out on the muck, to be absorbed without either ceremony, complaint or consent from either party, forever becoming part of the ground upon which the figure lay.

Without increasing the speed at which we seemed to almost float over the surface of mud and grime we came upon the figure within simple moments.

**BPOV**

Drifting in and out of consciousness, I was aware of the presences that now stood over me, feeling their stares as I lay still and unmoving upon the ground. In my mind I toyed with the idea of sitting up, speaking to those that stood before me now, getting them to take me to Edward, to safety. Perhaps I would have, had I not grown more and more conscious of potential threats since James and Victoria both had tried to claim my life. A feeling tearing away at my gut told me to lie still, call it an instinct, call it whatever you'd like, but it was there. And so I was still and dead to the world when the voices of the others first broke the silence, so heavy in the air.

"Strange, isn't it? Such devotion in the past to protect her life, and yet now here she lies. Dying, and alone." I could envision the kind of smug expression that must have been plastered to the face of the one the voice belonged to from the tone under laying each word. For a moment the voice registered in my mind as familiar, yet a name was implacable, although somewhere deep in my mind, it was there. Even as I grasped and grappeled with the vain search to remember, the other standing nearby stood, and although he sounded much closed than the other, I hadn't even heard him approach me so closely. Strange.

"Indeed. Still human, and dying. Intriguing to say the least." For a moment all was silent, no words passing the lips of those speakers. What did they mean, still human. My mind screamed at me to recognize the voices, to recognize them and run, to get away from the men standing not feet from my limp body. "And such a waste, such a waste of such a gift."

At the man words I stifled a gasp that rose in my chest, my breathing becoming irregular as I realized just who the voices belonged to, my subconscious clicking the pieces together in my mind. No, no it can't be. Impossible.

And yet it was.

"Perhaps not. She is not gone yet." Moments before I may have been puzzled beyond thought, but now it struck fear into the core of my soul, less at the words themselves than simply the reality of it all as I began to put two and two together. Again things fell silent and for tense moments I feared I had give myself away, until a voice cracked through a heavy sheath of quiet in answer to an unspoken question, a simple string of words freezing my heart even though I already knew who it was standing above me, simply hearing the name nearly sent me scrambling to the edge of oblivion just to get away from the vile man.

"Oh course, Aro. Of course." And in the fragile seconds before I plunged into the dark peace of unconsciousness, the one place they couldn't reach me, I could feel the lips cold as death come to rest upon my neck for a moment. And in the next, they plunged through the thin, papery skin above my throat, crimson blood rushing forth to meet the venom pooling, mixing and flowing.

And then the burning began.

**Authors Note:** Longer than the last chapter, but still not as long as I wanted. Oh well. Writers block is a curse x.x so please excuse the cruddiness. PLEASEEE review and thank you to those who have been reading my story!


	4. Authors Note

**Authors Note:**

I rewrote and edited parts of chapter three, as I couldn't get it to sound quite right so its a little different now. I still don't like it, but its a bit better...


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